I have been going crazy with cluttered cupboards. My problem is that I use too many different types of pulses and herbs. My cupboards are literally bulging at the seams with half empty packets and boxes. It was time to find a better system and I went with Décore as I’ve used them for years.

Before and after decore

The major benefit for me is that I can stop purchasing legume, dried fruits and herbs by the packet in the supermarket. We have a sensational shop nearby that allows you to purchase food stuff in bulk. You just take your container into Pacific Bulk Foods and fill it up directly. Despite the cost saving, purchasing like this in bulk reduces the amount of waste packaging needed. Win-win!

Australians have been steadily switching from full-cream to low-fat milk over the past decade, with many citing their waistline as a reason, but the results of an international review may have even the most health conscious embracing the full-fat latte once again.

It has been broadly accepted that consuming saturated fat could lead to an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, prompting dietary guidelines to recommend low- and reduced-fat milks and yoghurt as part of a balanced diet.

”These still contain calcium and other nutrients, but with less saturated fat,” the guidelines state.

But in a review examining the link between high-fat dairy and health, published in the latest European Journal of Nutrition, researchers concluded ” … in contrast to the prevailing scientific and public sentiment, dairy fat consumption is not typically associated with an increased risk of weight gain, cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes.

”This is also in contrast to most current dietary guidelines recommending the consumption of fat-reduced milk and dairy products.”

The review, led by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Washington, noted that further studies were needed, but concluded there was ”no compelling reason” to avoid the fat found in dairy products.

Statistics from Dairy Australia, the national services body for the dairy industry, show full-cream milk consumption – which contains about 4 per cent fat – is on the decline, making up 49 per cent of milk sales in 2010-2011 compared with nearly 57 per cent in 2000-2001.

But it was too early to call for changes to dietary guidelines in favour of full-cream dairy, said Tim Gill, an associate professor at Sydney University’s Boden institute of obesity, nutrition, exercise & eating disorders.

”I think the jury is still out on the quality and consistency of the evidence we have available to us at this time.

A study he was a part of found no consistent evidence that out of reduced-fat, low-fat or full-fat dairy, one was better than the others. ”But I would still recommend reduced-fat dairy, given its lower fat and calorie content,” he said.

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Oh sago… Where have you been all my life? Seriously a simple, delicious dessert that everyone will love. Sago is made from the starchy pulp of a specific type of palm tree. Yup, starch. That makes sago about 90% carbohydrates, so be careful, diabetics.

Ingredients

Method

Put the stevia, sago and coconut cream in a pot and cook over a moderate heat for 5 minutes, stirring continually.

Remove from the heat and place in the fridge until chilled.

Serve with toasted nuts and coconut.

Yum, give me extra nuts and coconut!

Observations

I adore sago. No, I mean I REALLY adore it. I could eat it all day long. It’s so easy and so delicious. Ahh sago……. *drool*

Diabetic Note: Banana is always bad for me. When it comes into the equation, my blood glucose levels get crazy. Having said that though, my bloods handled this dish exceptionally well.

Ethical Note: I want to do some research about sago. I am not sure how sustainable the crop is. Many south-east Asian rainforests are torn down to make way for crops such as palm sugar. For now, the jury is out until I can find the time to research this further.

With links to obesity and heart disease, sugar’s reputation is worse than it’s ever been – but does this make alternative sweeteners a healthier option?

It depends on who you believe. If you think sugar gets a bad rap (‘sweet poison’; pure white and deadly’) it’s mother’s milk compared to aspartame which so many internet sites suggest is guilty of everything from vaginal irritation and weight gain to Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. Often used in soft drink, some weight loss products and yoghurts, aspartame is considered safe by Food Standards Australia New Zealand unless you have the rare genetic disorder – phenylketonuria – which all newborn babies in Australia are screened for. As for cancer, artificial sweeteners including saccharin and cyclamates once linked to cancer in animals, have been okayed – cautiously – by the World Cancer Research Fund, which says the evidence doesn’t suggest any ‘detectable effect’ on cancer risk.

On the face of it, artificial sweeteners let you have your cake and eat it – you get the sweet taste without paying the price of extra kilojoules from sugar. But are they useful or do they perpetuate and even increase our reliance on highly sweetened foods?

“We don’t know the answer to that, although my belief is that they’re not doing us any good,” says Russell Keast, Associate Professor in Food and Nutrition at Deakin University, who thinks artificial sweeteners may leave us hankering after the real thing.

“Besides having receptors for sweetness on our tongue we also have them through the digestive tract where they pick up signals telling us that carbohydrate foods are on their way,” he explains. “But with a food like an artificially sweetened soft drink you get the sweetness but the carbohydrates never come and the body is saying ‘you promised me energy and it’s not here’ – so the body may feel cheated which drives appetite or increased hunger. “

Whether this happens with foods like artificially sweetened yoghurt which still contains carbohydrates isn’t clear – it’s probably less of an issue but we just don’t know, he says.

If you want to eat less sugar and avoid artificial sweeteners too, there’s a middle road: the plant-based sweetener stevia which is so intensely sweet – 290 times more than sugar -that it only takes a tiny bit to sweeten food (though it does have an odd aftertaste).

I’ve been trialling stevia this week with mixed results. For sweetening your cocoa with fewer kilojoules, stevia hits the spot. It’s okay in porridge too, but less successful in stewed rhubarb – it’s sweet enough but compared to raw sugar, strangely flat and less satisfying. As for baking, I had more success with CSR Smart, the blend of sugar and stevia which seems like a good compromise to me – it has 50 per cent fewer kilojoules because you only use half as much as you would with regular sugar.

But sometimes common sense gets lost when a food like sugar becomes demonised. Too much sugar spread through the day in breakfast cereal, soft drink, cakes, sweets and packaged foods is a problem – a teaspoon on your porridge isn’t. Instead of spending research dollars searching for the perfect no-kilojoule sugar substitute that lets us eat more sweet stuff with less impact on our weight, wouldn’t it be smarter to eat sugar the old fashioned way? Skip the soft drink, juice, bikkies and too-sweet yoghurt and just add a bit of real sugar to real food when we need to.

“It’s hard to go past the message that says it’s best to avoid highly processed food and to remember that our early food experiences are very important for determining our food preferences as we get older,” adds Russell Keast. “We learn to like what the family exposes us to – and parents should be aware of this.”

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Every Friday, the fine folk over at The Daily Post issue a weekly photo challenge. This weeks challenge isGrowth.

Growth. These small (believe me, they were small) grapes in Napa Valley are getting ready for the harvest later this fall, when they will be turned into wine. Plants, animals, people, grow…but so can buildings, shadows, and waves. What can you share that makes the viewer think of growth?

Last Sunday (29th July) was National Tree Day, and I chose to spend the time in the garden, replanting for spring. I planted up some herbs…

I have been quite taken to cooking with sage recently, so I made sure i got some in my herb bed for this season.

I always have tomatoes but for this season, I’ve only planted cherry tomatoes as I love the texture and size of them. And sweetness, oh so sweet….

My poor leeks, though, are really struggling. They always get eaten way before their time, and I am not the one eating them!

And here is the culprit! Kitty adores to eat the new growth in the garden and the leeks are her personal favourite.

They can be a seat-belt for your heart, reduce the risk of diabetes and bring down cholesterol but stick to just a handful of nuts a day – raw if possible – and avoid additives like salt and sugar.

Tree nuts are increasingly regarded as wonder foods that lower the risk of heart disease, some forms of cancer and type 2 diabetes while providing essential vitamins and minerals including niacin, zinc, folic acid, selenium and magnesium.

They contain more unsaturated fats than animal proteins and can cut levels of LDL or “bad” cholesterol, according to numerous studies. And their mix of omega-3 fatty acids, protein and fibre will help you feel full and suppress your appetite.

Plus the fat content helps release satiety hormones in the digestive system, which also helps to curb hunger, adds dietitian Lisa Yates of the Australian Nut Industry Council website nutsforlife.com.au. A small snack of nuts can lessen your desire to overeat later in the day.

Despite the good news, not all nuts are necessarily nutritious.

In the supermarket snack section, “nature’s bite-sized wonders” are often drowned in salt and/or sugar.

“Anything coated with or tucked inside layers of sugar, toffee, chocolate or ice-cream isn’t going to give you much nutritional benefit, and the calories can quickly add up,” warns US Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson Judy Caplan, R.D.

Avoid nuts packaged or roasted in oil and instead eat them raw or dry roasted, Caplan told the Huffington Post. “Roasted nuts may have been heated in unhealthy fats at high temperatures that can destroy their nutrients.” She also cautions against snacking straight from a box or tub of glazed nuts, such as honey roasted cashews or caramelised Vienna almonds.

Nut butters are another contentious issue, with many warning that they can pack on calories because they’re delicious and easy to eat.

Look for spreads with the fewest ingredients possible, advises Caplan, who notes that most major-brand nut butters contain hydrogenated oils, which are high in saturated fats.

The debate over the caloric content of nuts continues to rage in cyberland – but “sorting out the truth from the propaganda,” as one blogger puts it, is not entirely straightforward. Online magazine Vegsource.com has highlighted the case of vegan chef AJ, who dropped 12 pounds (5.4 kilos) in 12 weeks simply by giving up all nuts and seeds.

AJ, who is hypothyroid with a slow basal metabolic rate, says even a moderate amount of healthy fats was too much for her.

“[But] if there’s one myth that needs busting,” insists Yates, “it is that nuts are fattening.”

“Nuts are healthy high-fat food in a fat-phobic world and it is high time we moved on from thinking that the low-fat diet is going to solve our heart disease, diabetes and obesity problems.” Research has moved on from the low-fat mantra of the 80s and 90s, she says.

“Epidemiological [large population] studies have found that as nut consumption increased, body mass index decreased. We also know that nuts help prevent weight gain, which is the first step in losing weight, but like any food, healthy or not, eat too much and you may gain weight – especially if you’re eating more than you need and not burning enough through exercise.”

Yates suggests eating one handful of mixed nuts a day, just 30g, and enjoy them as a snack or add to your meals to make them more exciting.

All nuts are about equal in calories, but their nutrient profile does differ. There are 10 varieties of tree nuts: almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, chestnuts, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts.

Brazil nuts – seeds from a large tree found in the Amazon rainforest – are rich in selenium, a vital mineral and antioxidant. Just two Brazil nuts a day may prevent heart disease and prostate cancer and can also enhance mood.

Cashews are high in magnesium, needed for healthy bones, and are good sources of phytochemicals and antioxidants. A handful is about 15 cashews.

Hazelnuts, the most fibre-rich of all the nuts, contain significant levels of B-group vitamins including folate and vitamin B6. An average handful is about 20 hazelnuts.

Macadamia nuts are high in healthy mono-unsaturated fats, contain all the essential amino acids and have been shown to lower blood cholesterol. Fifteen macadamias make a handful.

Pecans also reduce cholesterol and may delay age-related muscle nerve degeneration, according to a University of Massachusetts study. A handful is about 15 pecans.

Pine nuts – the edible seeds of pine trees, removed from pine cones – contain zinc, niacin and manganese and are rich in mono-unsaturated acids. Ancient Greeks and Romans believed pine nuts were an aphrodisiac. Two tablespoons is an average serve.

Pistachios are packed with protein, vitamin E and are an excellent source of copper and manganese. Sixty pistachios makes a 30g serving.

Walnuts are loaded with natural plant omega-3s called alphalinoleic acid or ALA. Eating walnuts is “like wearing a seat-belt for your heart,” according to nutsforlife.com. Ten whole walnuts is the suggested average serve.

Peanuts, technically legumes but commonly referred to as nuts, are high in vitamin E, folate (for brain development) and may reduce cognitive decline.

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Sometimes, clean fresh flavours are what inspires me the most. Don’t get me wrong; there is always a place for technique, but there is something delightful about pure ingredients. This quick slap together lunch is a classic example.